Dr. Mikhail Malenkov is a highly respected scientist and engineer who has authored over 100 technical papers, and 5 books. He created 32 patented inventions, and was responsible for the design of the "Lunokhod" wheels as well as the drive mechanism for the Phobos-1 and Phobos-2 landers. He designed the chassis used on various planet rover prototypes, the mechanical arm of the Buran spacecraft, and, space hardware for the Mir space station and the Russian Mars-96 project, among others. Also, he helped to create the STR-1 mobile robot, and headed the group of specialists who controlled this robot during the removal of radioactive debris from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the massive explosion at this facility.

Vyacheslav Dovgan

Dr. Vyacheslav Dovgan is a prominent space hardware expert. As the chief operator of both Soviet Lunokhod lunar rovers, he drove Lunokhod-2 from the Luna-21 lander during this rover's record-setting trek across the surface of the Moon in 1973.

Ephraim Akim

Dr. Ephraim Akim is an associate director of the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics in Moscow. A leading Russian specialist in the field of space ballistics, Dr. Akim is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was responsible for ballistics and navigational support on almost all Soviet and Russian space missions from 1965 until the present including the Luna-16 mission -- the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return with a lunar sample to Earth -- Soyuz, Salyut, Mir, Vega and many others.